Security: Dasuki, Sowore, You Can Go Home But Sin No More As Gunmen Attack Jonathan’sCountry Home At Otueke, Bayelsa State

By Elizabeth Chukwuma

 After  several attempts by  Sambo Dasuki, a retired Army Colonel   and Omoyele Sowore’s Lawyers to secure administrative bail for the duo failed, as faith appear to have  smiled on their path as on Tuesday , December 24, 2019,  they were released  by Presidential fiat.

Dasuki, who  was a retired Army Colonel, was a power broker and former National Security Adviser to erstwhile President Goodluck Jonathan administration, while Sowore was a  Journalist and Publisher of the  NewYork, United States  based Online  platform, Sahara Reporters and who incidentally was the Presidential Candidate of  African Action Congress, AAC, in the last February  Presidential election, won by President Muhammadu Buhari, a retired Army General,and  then Presidential Candidate  of the All Progressive Congress, APC.

Abubakar Malami, a Senior Advocate of Nigeria, SAN, Attorney General of  the Federation, AGF,  and minister of Justice, broke the cheery news  about  the Presidential order for their release and which  the Department of State Security, DSS, which is under the close watch of Magaji Yusuf Bichi, was said to have carried without delay., thus making possible for the duo to join members of their families  to celebrate this Christmas period, particular, Sowore ,  who is a Christian .

 Note that Dasuki, has been in the custody  of  the DSS, since December 29, 2015, on the orders of the Katsina state  born Nigerian President   over alleged diversion  of $2.1 billion arms funds while  Sowore had played into the  hands of the DSS operatives  and Mohammed Adamu, the Inspector General of Police, IGP,  on August 3, 2019, on for allegedly Convening the Democracy Now protest , which could have turned the heart of the  people against the President  if it had succeed.

 The DSS , which has the backing of the President and the AGF,had  charged Sowore, the Politician to Court    alongside Adewale Bakare, his Collaborator, on a 16  counts bordering  on’’ treason,able felony   and money laundering amongst others’’ but were said to have been  granted administrative bail on the sum of N100 million  and N30 million respectively.  

Many had expected the DSS, which is an agency under the ministry of Justice, to comply with the Court order but it  never did, an indication that the government may have ulterior motive for  disobeying the Court orders.  The DSS, may have further  demonstrated their  disrespect for  the  Court orders when they allegedly created a scene at the Abuja High Court premises  on December 5, 2019, when operatives re-arrested Sowore, who was  granted bail but left Adewale, his Collaborator in the Revolution Now Protest untouched. He was said to  have  been returned to the   agency custody, on December 5, 2019. Perhaps, the DSS operatives    may have seen him as a security risk and therefor, the need to keep him under a close watch before he creates more havoc in the system.

 Lawyers  may not have found the continued  detention of Dasuki and Sowore,  funny, going by repeated  Court pronouncements for their release. One of such Court’s ruling  was that of July 14, 2019, by an Appeal Court In Abuja,  barely two months after  the Katsina state  born politician, was sworn in by Walter Onnoghen, a former  Chief Justice of Nigeria, CJN,  fora second term in office. He may have seen it as an opportunity to prove that he is a true  Democrat who  obeys Court orders   in order to win back the heart of the people.

The Appeal   Court ruling  declaring the continued detention of the duo as ‘illegal, unlawful and unconstitutional’’  may have sent a signal to  the Daura born politician to act.It was not surprising why he ordered  the government legal team Headed by the AGF, to look into the legal books in order to prepare the ground to facilitate  release Dasuki and Sowore, still in DSS Custody.

Malami may have  kept the Presidential directive a closely guided secret but was said to be in touch  with  Bichi, the DSS boss,  to conclude the arrangement  for their release from detention. The release of the of the duo by the DSS, on last Tuesday,  appear to have thrown the pro-democracy group in the country into  wild jubiliation.

An appreciative Sowore had thanked Nigerians for prevailing on Buhari  to release him. Still talking tough while exchanging pleasantries with a group of Youths from Abuja, the FCT, he  had declared,  ‘’nobody  can take  the people  who  are deserving t for their children  and more generations for granted basic things of life, pleading with the people not to relent  in the struggle for a better Nigeria.

An elated Femi Falana, a SAN, and Sowore’s Lawyer,  had told those that cares to listen  that  ‘’since the Buhari administration   has embraced the rule of law, ‘’there is the need   for the government to ensure  that valid  and subsisting   orders  of the Courts  are obeyed  in accordance  with section 287 of the Constitution’’ .

This may have informed   why he called for the release  of Ibraheem  Elzakyzaky, the leader of the Iran Islamic  government  sponsored Islamic Movement of Nigeria, IMN and his wife Zeinat  as well as others described as political detainees and suspects still in detention.

Former President Jonathan: Gunmen Stormed His Village Waterside Close His Country Home And Caused Havoc

  Falana wants the  AGF to liaise with the Kaduna state government  to work out an arrangement on how to settle the N50million reparation which  a Federal  High Court sitting in kduna, had  awarded to the duo   to provide them  with a temporary accommodation  since the Army had destroyed their family House in Zaria after a clash with the sect.

In a related development Former President Jonathan, the the Bayelsa state born politician, who ought to be happy over the release of Dasuki, his former NSA, who had been in detention since 2015,    may have been thrown him into confusion  as  gunmen, stormed the Otuoke waterside, about 100 meters away from his country home to snatch   a military gunboat  stationed  at the waterside he form to guide the former President’. The gunmen were said to have arrived   in five  speed boats armed to the teeth. Both for the stiff resistance put  up by the soldiers on guard of the gunboat, the gunmen could have gained entry into the  former m President’s house which  could  have caused a big embarrassment to the government  battling to redeem its international image  about the security of life and property in the county.  One soldier was said to have been killed in the cross- fire and another one seriously injured.  Eyewitness account said  the gunmen that stormed the Otuoke waterside,also kidnapped some people, who were  yet to be found. An aggrieved Buhari was said to have called the ex-President to express  his sadness   over  the tragic  the former President  over the  tragic and  unfortunate attack, promising that  the protection of the  former leader   and every Nigerian living here and in the Diaspora, would continue  to be  the major  preoccupation  of his government. That much was by  confirmed Garba  Shehu,  Senior Special Assistant The President on Media and Publicity.

Security  watchers believe that the gunmen could be   PDP thugs,   who had not been  happy that the former  President allegedly  played a key role in the emergence of David Lyon, the APC, governorship Candidate, in the last  November  governorship election in the state

 The former President was said to  have  thrown his weight behind the APC Candidate because of the news making the rounds  that Seriake Dickson, the state governor overbearing influence on the party without consulting the elders was telling on the party .

 He was said to have imposed Douye  Diri, a Senator of Fede\ral republic of Nigerian as the party governorship Candidate in the election with the intention to  take over from him   in the Senate  through a bye-election if  he had won.   

The president may want to use  the Otuoke  attack to prove a point that nobody can take the law into his hand and  go unpunished. Already Kola Ologboniyan, the National Publicity Secretary of the PDP, at the instance of the party National Working Committee, NWC, Headed by Uce Secondus has asked the government to mobilise its network of security agencies to track down  and apprehend the gunmen who attacked the former President’s village waterside with the intention to get at him.

The party has described as disturbing   the attack on the waterside close to the former’s President’s House as extremely disturbing, urging the President   to carry  out an extensive  investigation  into the incident to get to the root of the matter.

Giving the attack on the Otuoke waterside , preparatory hady to launching an attack on the former President’s country home,  the party fears  that the t life and safety  of the former  of the ex-President , who ruled the country for over six years  and members of his family could not  no longer be guaranteed.

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